E. C. "Scar" Gordon was on the French Riviera recovering from a tour of combat in Southeast Asia , but he hadn't given up his habit of scanning the Personals in the newspaper. One ad in particular leapt out at him:

"ARE YOU A COWARD? This is not for you. We badly need a brave man. He must be 23 to 25 years old, in perfect health, at least six feet tall, weigh about 190 pounds, fluent English, with some French, proficient in all weapons, some knowledge of engineering and mathematics essential, willing to travel, no family or emotional ties, indomitably courageous and handsome of face and figure. Permanent employment, very high pay, glorious adventure, great danger. You must apply in person, rue Dante, Nice, 2me étage, apt. D."

How could you not answer an ad like that, especially when it seemed to describe you perfectly? Well, except maybe for the "handsome" part, but that was in the eye of the beholder anyway. So he went to that apartment and was greeted by the most beautiful woman he'd ever met. She seemed to have many names, but agreed he could call her "Star." A pretty appropriate name, as it turned out, for the empress of twenty universes.

Robert A. Heinlein's one true fantasy novel, Glory Road is as much fun today as when he wrote it after Stranger in a Strange Land. Heinlein proves himself as adept with sword and sorcery as with rockets and slide rules and the result is exciting, satirical, fast-paced, funny and tremendously readable -- a favorite of all who have read it. Glory Road is a masterpiece of escapist entertainment with a typically Heinleinian sting in its tail. Tor is proud to return this all-time classic to hardcover to be discovered by a new generation of readers.

Product Description

About the Author

Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) is widely acknowledged to have been the single most important and influential author of science fiction in the twentieth century. He won science fiction’s Hugo Award for Best Novel four times, and in addition, three of his novels were given Retrospective Hugos fifty years after publication. He won Science Fiction Writers of America’s first Grand Master Award for his lifetime achievement.

Born in Butler, Missouri, Heinlein graduated from the United States Naval Academy and served as an officer in the navy for five years. He started writing to help pay off his mortgage, and his first story was published in Astounding Science-Fiction magazine in 1939. In 1947, he published a story in The Saturday Evening Post, making him the first science-fiction writer to break into the mainstream market. Long involved in politics, Heinlein was deeply affected by events such as the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Cold War, and his fiction tended to convey strong social and political messages. His many influential novels include Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, and Time Enough for Love. At the time of his death in 1988, he was living in Carmel, California with his wife Virginia.

Inside This Book

First Sentence
I know a place where there is no smog and no parking problem and no population explosion . . . no Cold War and no H-bombs and no television commercials . . . no Summit Conferences, no Foreign Aid, no hidden taxes-no income tax.&nbspRead the first page

Most helpful customer reviews

This one's kind of an odd entry in the Heinlein catalogue, but it's less odd if we recall that he wrote some fantasy/horror stuff in the early 1940s.Ostensibly it's a sword-and-sorcery adventure/fantasy. But since it was written by Heinlein, it overturns and undoes quite a few of the usual fairy-tale cliches. The ending, for example, exemplifies Heinlein's own non-fairy-tale take on what really constitutes living 'happily ever after'.The Hero is one Evelyn Cyril 'E.C.' (and eventually 'Oscar') Gordon, a veteran of a long and unpopular war in Vietnam. (Major prognostication success here: remember, Heinlein published this in _1962_. And the Heinlein who had devoted _Starship Troopers_ to exploring 'why men fight' manages to deal pretty sympathetically here with the corollary question of why some don't.) Gordon hooks up with a Heroine -- Star, Empress of the Twenty Universes, who needs some help recovering the Egg of the Phoenix.Heinlein gets to show off his swordsmanship a bit (like David Lamb, 'The Man Who Was Too Lazy to Fail', he was a champion swordsman at the naval academy). He also gets to have a little fun with a monster or two.And -- it wouldn't be Heinlein without this part -- he takes the reader on a guided tour of some cultures whose mores differ from those of Middle America, by way of illustrating that (most) morals are _customs_ relative to time, place, and social milieu.Well, it's a pretty enjoyable romp through a world of fantasy, and there's enough of Heinlein's signature on it to keep it interesting even for those of us who aren't into the dungeons-and-dragons stuff. But _Lord of the Rings_ it ain't, and this sort of thing is definitely not Heinlein's strength.Readable, pleasant, diverting, and fun, and it's right on the money in its exploration of the _sense of adventure_. Nothing really groundbreaking, though, and it's interesting mainly because it's Heinlein.

Glory Road is quite different from what you might expect of a novel by Robert Heinlein. More of a fantasy adventure than science fiction, it seems to me that Heinlein was very much in a transitional phase while writing this book. Well, this experiment can be considered a great success and Glory Road is a fascinating adventure well worth your time.The story is told in first-person narrative by Evelyn Cyril(E.C.)Gordon, a recently discharged American soldier. Since his discharge(which he considers to be an opportunity to see the rest of the world) E.C. has been bumming around Europe and enjoying a nice laid-back and easy lifestyle. Only one problem: money is starting to run low. One morning while drinking a café in Nice, he spots an ad in the classifieds for a job that he feels fits him to a tee. Once he goes to the interview, he realizes the job entails much more than he bargains for.Basically, his mission is to travel to a distant planet, capture a lost egg that was stolen from the planet "central" and return it safely to its rightful owners. Along the way, E.C. and his two travel mates encounter swordsmen, Tyrannasauruses, giants, sea creatures and a wide range of other obstacles.One thing I found took that took getting used to is Heinlein's writing style. I found it to be very short-phrased and all over the place. I came pretty close to putting the book down and dismissing it as experimental garbage after the first chapter but I'm glad I stuck it through. Heinlein also injects a huge amount of his philosophies on politics, capitalism, society that are often amusing if somewhat questionable. I got the impression reading this book and Starship Troopers that Heinlein veers waaaay, waaaay to the right.This is a very wild and very unique adventure that Heinlein gives us. It reads fast and is always entertaining(except for the first chapter that is). Glory Road is definitely a road worth taking.

Glory Road followed closely on the heels of Stranger in a Strange Land, but it is a much different book. Written in 1962, this is Heinlein’s only full-fledged fantasy novel, and that in itself makes it an interesting read. Heinlein was definitely writing for an adult audience by this point in his career, and he boasted that this novel had enough sex in it to cause heart failure among those who had complained about Stranger. By today’s standards, the adult relationships included here are barely noticeable, implied certainly but never described at all.E.C. Gordon is hanging around Europe, having received both a medical discharge and facial scar from fighting in a “non-war” in Southeast Asia, when he encounters a stunning young woman on the beaches of France. Thinking he has won a sweepstakes he reluctantly rushes out of town, fearing that in doing so he has blown his one and only chance with the girl of his dreams. His winning ticket proves a forgery, and he decides to answer a personal ad asking “Are you a coward?” To his surprise, he encounters his lady from the beach and soon finds himself transported to another universe. Dubbed “Oscar” by “the princess” Star, he assumes the role of hero, aiding the mysterious woman on an extremely urgent quest that promises lots of adventure and even more danger. With Star’s assistant Rufo, the group journeys through the portals of several universes, killing dangerous beasts that get in their way, in a quest to claim the Egg of the Phoenix. Oscar settles in to his new role, and the adventure proves to be most interesting, especially when he finally learns what the whole thing is all about.Read more ›